***The What's In Space Thread***

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TheBigCheese

TheBigCheese

TheBigCheese

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***What's In The Night Sky This Month***

Seeings as the ISS thread I started the other day was so popular I thought it might be an idea to have an official astronomy thread going announcing all the goings on (assuming there isn't one already!).

This post I will keep for summaries of events, dates and times and basic information.

Post two will have more detailed info on the events in the month, hope you enjoy the thread and contribute anything you know about!

Software to help you locate planets and stars:

For PC, Mac OS X & Linux
Stellarium - free software

For Android
Google Sky Map - free software
Star Chart - currently £1.99

Can anyone tell me what's best for iPhone and Windows mobile?
 
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MARCH

Mars - closest approach in two years! From National Geographic:

"Once every two years Mars’ orbit brings it close to Earth allowing it to shine its biggest and brightest to the naked eye and telescope – and on the evening of March 5 the Red Planet will reach its closest approach to Earth for 2012. Only 62.6 million miles will separate our two worlds as it just passes official opposition – when Mars is directly opposite the Sun from us only two days before on March 3.

Step outside on any clear night- about a half hour after local sunset and look towards the east. Mars is easy to spot as yellowish-orange light, shining brighter than anything else in that part of the night sky, except for the Moon. By the way, If you are having problems positively identifying Mars, then you will find the full moon conveniently sitting next to it on March 7 – both rising in the east around sunset. By local midnight you will find Mars shining high in the south.

The entire month of March, until end of April is your best bet in terms of observing the Red Planet through a telescope as the planetary disk will be big enough under high magnification to catch surface details on it. – after which you will have to wait until 2014 to get a better, bigger view.

While this opposition wont be the most favorable because of the smaller apparent size of Mars due to its farther distance, through a small telescope, the dark surface markings and north polar ice cap should be visible. Larger telescopes (at least 6 inches) using high powers of 200x magnification might help reveal the occasional white equatorial cloud bands and moving dust storms.

While the best way to explore Mars in your backyard is through a telescope, the unaided eye can reveal its true colors. Its entire surface today is covered in a fine dust that is rich in iron oxide, meaning Mars is red and rusting.

Even from 62.6 million miles away we can see the color of the planet, which is half Earth’s size, as the light from the Sun reflects off the Martian deserts. Now how cool is that?"


LPyuF.jpg



Comet Garradd
We have Comet Garradd visible all night long through binoculars, as it starts to fade from 7th to 8th magnitude. You can find it near the north celestial North pole near the star Kochab or Beta Ursa Minoris (The little Bear) on the 6th, and the star Dubhe in the Plough on the 21st. Scan this region with binoculars and you should pick it up as a faint misty patch of light.


Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all visible this month!
There's quite a lot of information on how and where to spot them so I'll direct you to the article.
 
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This thread should have started sooner! I love staring up into the sky on a clear night. Truly amazing to spot the different planets and stars and to also, occasionally, see the ISS :D Hoping for a clear night tomorrow!
 
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Greg0986 said:
This thread should have started sooner! I love staring up into the sky on a clear night. Truly amazing to spot the different planets and stars and to also, occasionally, see the ISS :D Hoping for a clear night tomorrow!
Click to expand...

I used to love that too, was able to pick out planets on the right days. Completely useless now, trying to get into astronomy again.

The Google Sky app is quite good.
 
What a coincidence! I've just downloaded an app from the iTunes store called "the night sky" because it's on sale at 69p. It does the whole hold it up at the sky and it tells you what stuff is thing. Seems very good, just had a quick scan around and it pointed out lots of names of stars and constellations. Oh, it also does satellites. Would probably be cooler on an iPad what with a bigger screen.
 
TheBigCheese said:
Seeings as the ISS thread I started the other day was so popular I thought it might be an idea to have an official astronomy thread going announcing all the goings on (assuming there isn't one already!).

This post I will keep for summaries of events, dates and times and basic information.

Post two will have more detailed info on the events in the month, hope you enjoy the thread and contribute anything you know about!
Click to expand...


You seem to have forgotten that there is already an official astronomy thread:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18304064

and there is also a Space Flight thread:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18304053

So this is rather pointless. :)
 
You know, I had actually forgotten about those threads which is madness considering I used to be very interested in them!

I was just looking at Mars through binoculars tonight and wanted to share the excitement!

However I think this thread still stands, the astronomy thread has loads of information in it from discussions of missions to astro photography.

I would like this thread to be an easy place for anyone to go to to read about announcements of what's happening this month, ISS passes, interesting things like Mars above - more of a layman's thread for those with a passing interest in what's above them.

In fact if a mod agrees with me could they please change the title of the thread to "What's in the night sky this month"

Thanks. :)
 
I'm can't say i agree, three threads about mostly the same topic is a bit excessive. It is a tech forum. Sim does a good job of keeping us up to date with easy to read announcements in the space thread and there's no reason you couldn't add to them if you feel you can. If they were extremely popular and hard to follow then i might agree but they don't exactly go at lightning speeds.

As i recall, when me and sim were discussing the creation of those two threads we had a bit of trouble deciding whether they should even be split into two :p
 
*shrug* I thought it might be useful to keep a thread with the OP updated with what's happening this month, it's very easy to keep track of and anyone with a passing interest can see what's going on.

If one of you two want to update your OPs with what's happening each month that would be really useful but as that doesn't currently happen this is an easy way to tell people what's going on quickly...it doesn't make much difference to me, I'm just trying to share the knowledge.

If I add information to an existing popular thread it'll soon be lost in discussion, especially for those that view the forum with 20 posts per page.

I don't want to repeat your threads, just have a general announcement for what's happening...if the mods don't agree so be it but I thought it would be useful.
 
Well in the mean time (i'm sure the mods will make the decision for us), i've heard good things about SkEye on Android. But in two years of having an android phone i've never been up to date enough to actually try it :mad:
 
I'll have a look into that app...I bought Star Chart when it was on offer for 10p...good thing to, I don't find it as useful as Google Sky Map...it doesn't seem to line up with the stars as well. :(

Back on topic, I've updated the OPs with some more sights to see including a comet I didn't know about before! :eek: :D
 
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I saw two very bright lights in the sky last night, in the Eastern sky around 5pm (so before it was that dark). One a lot brighter, and lower than the other. They weren't twinkling which made me assume they were planets but I've never seen two planets together before.

Anyone know what they could have been?
 
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